Breathe
by shunkaha
Summary: A small glimpse into MGS 4 Guns of the Patriots. One shot. Mood piece. SPOILER WARNING! Here I use some info about the game that has only recently been confirmed. I repeat: SPOILER WARNING!


Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. There.

Note: English is not my native tongue. Consider yourself warned.

Not beta-ed, not proof-read for typos. This happened totally random and I don't really remember wrinting most of it.

Longer comment at the end.

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**„Breathe"**

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Deep, even breaths. In, out. And again. The smell in the air made breathing through the nose almost unbearable, but he knew better than to forget what Naomi had told him. But then again… 

Why did he still care? It wasn't like it really mattered…

The wind had picked up noticably and the cold of the night was now seeping into his bones despite the suit. The dark was spreading fast.

Hopeless. All this was hopeless, had become a sick joke so fast. A one-way ticket to hell. They were heavily outnumbered and hiding here, like it made a difference to them. Of corse they would be found in no time. And then…

Rain. Of all the things you could expect in a dry, hot place like this, rain had never made his list. But here it was, falling heavily through the holes in the wooden roof. He looked up at the dark night sky he could make out through one of the holes and watched his breath forming little clouds. Listened to the drumming of the rain on the roof and the beat his of his own heart. His uneven, shallow breaths.

And realised, that although he was not alone, he was unable to hear anything from the other man, who was guarding the door of the run down, abandoned shack. No breath. No heartbeat.

The only thing he could make out in the dark were the eerie lights on the visor, which now moved towards him.

"There are too many of them," Raiden whispered and Snake was again taken aback by the deep, metallic sound of his voice. So different. "No way to get through unnoticed. You know what that means."

Snake snorted. Of corse he knew that. They were just biding their time. Waiting for the inevitable. It would not really make a difference if they waited here or not. In the end, it was hopeless. They had made it this far, but he felt that he would not be able to go on for much longer.

He was so tired. Mentally and physically. More than ever before he felt that it was time to leave all this behind, to get away from it as long as he still could and had the strength to pull it through. For a long time now he had managed to go on autopilot, to shut out these thoughts. But now that they finally got a chance to catch their breath… it was about damn time. The pain was no longer just a dull ache in the back of his head, but more like a knife in his guts. And it did not go away. He was glad that there was not really room to sit or lay down in the small shack, because god, he was not sure if he'd ever found the strength to get to his feet again.

And the kid – and Snake was again surprised that he still referred to Raiden as "the kid" in his mind – did not look much better. The exo – skeleton was heavily damaged on Raiden's left shoulder and leg – and somewhere along the way something had obviously ripped off half of his right middle finger. And there was no blood.

Snake shuddered when he realised that. Of corse he had had his suspicions about Raiden's sudden reappearance and Otacon had told him a lot about the new exo skeleton and the abilities it gave Raiden. But this… was different. He remembered Otacon going on and on about the fact that he had not been able to detect any life signs from Raiden and that from a survelliance point of view, he was not even there. And no, the exo skeleton was impressive, but it did not have the ability to do THAT. So that meant… whatever had happened to Raiden now made him invisible – at least to artificial eyes.

And maybe, in a twisted kind of way, that was the reason why Raiden was wearing the exo skeleton. Why he had "agreed" to do this – if he had agreed at all. Because nobody could control what was invisible. Nobody could use and destroy what could not be found.

And if his suspicion was right…

"Don't," Raiden's voice interrupted his thoughts and Snake realised that he had been staring at the man's damaged hand in what little light a hole in the roof provided. By now, Raiden hat stepped out of the light and back into the shadows. The red lights on the visor were now staring at Snake like disembodied, crimson eyes again.

"Don't think about it too much."

There was a moment of eerie silence between them before the unmistakable howl of a Gekko unit echoed through the narrow streets. Raiden was at the door in mere seconds, but only stood next to it with his back to the wall, waiting. The red lights moved again and in the shadows Snake could only suspect that Raiden's head was tilted to the side to hear what was going on outside. The heavy footsteps of the huge gears thundered past them, once, twice. Then silence.

"Six," Raiden whispered and Snake nodded. He'd also heard at least six of them, maybe even seven. Not to mention the ones that were moving above them, on the rooftops.

They were thoroughly surrounded. He had seen Raiden fight half a dozen of Gekkos all alone, but that felt like a lifetime ago and it had happened in bright daylight. And no matter how good Raiden's nightsight through this visor thing was, Snake was sure the Gekkos' was better. Going out there to take them on now would be suicide. Even for the ninja.

Hours went by like that. Every now and then, they would hear movement outside, but they were obviously safe enough where they were. Snake busied himself checking his remaining equipment and found himself wishing that Otacon's unnerving little robot was there with them. Of corse they did not really need any more information about the fact that they were surrounded and sitting in a trap, but another pair of eyes was never a bad thing.

A short, beeping sound caught his attention and he was surprised to see the red lights that had hovered around the room disappear.

"Time's up," Raiden simply said and Snake realised for the first time that traces of dawn were creeping into the shack..

And there was nothing left to say.

So he simply nodded.

Raiden did not return the gesture, but instead simply reactivated the visor which now again covered his eyes.

"You will have three minutes, maybe four. Not more."

Then he turned around and walked up to the door, where he hesitated for a moment.

"Six months," he whispered without turning around, "are a long time."

And with that, he was out of the door.

For a few seconds, Snake just stood there. He was not sure how Raiden could possibly have found out about this. And after another moment of hesitation he realised that he could not really find it in him to care.

And when he too stepped out into the dawn, accompanied by the sound of explosions and gunfire not far away, he found himself wondering.

About Raiden.

About "Jack".

And what kind of person he once was.

Stray bullets exploded in the wall of the building to his right and he started running.

So.

Six months.

He grinned.

For now, those four minutes would be more than enough.

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**CAREFUL! MGS4 - Spoiler ahead** (but nothing that wikipedia wouldn't already know. So there.)

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Comment (aka: this is what happens when I am depressed at 3 in the moring) :

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_"It has been recently confirmed by Lead Character Designer: Yoji Shinkawa, that Raiden is indeed a Cyborg like Gray Fox, and the only things still human about him are apparently his head and spine."_ (Wikipedia)

That was all it took. That stupid sentense and the 15-minute trailer for MGS 4 - Guns of the Patriots. The whole atmosphere in that trailer just HAS to drag you down. Or at least that was what it did to me. Of corse I laughed through the whole "melon - incident", including the "no place for hideo" - label on the box. Or about the fact that the lights on Raiden's visor - thingy remind me of Sam Fisher. But mostly, it's just depressing. And don't get me started on that ungodly almost - suicide scene. And then: Raiden. Of corse that fight Raiden vs. the Gekkos is totally over the top and almost ridiculous in it's awesomeness. But if you add to this what Shinkawa said about Raiden, it's just... weird. And damn. creepy. So, this was my take on that.

That's about all I have to say. Oh what the hell, just think of it as a mood piece.

If you'll excuse me now, I am going to crawl back into my dark corner and hide from the world.

Shun


End file.
